from Meadowlands Publicity Department

East Rutherford, NJ — Sagebrush ($3.40, $2.80, $2.60) rolled to his third straight victory and a series sweep in the $120,000 Four Leaf Clover Final on Saturday night at the Meadowlands.

It was a little closer than a 3-5 shot might want to be. A hard-charging Medowland Big Sam ($7.40, $5.40) got up to finish second by a neck. Image of Dawn ($6.40) was third by a length and a half.

Sagebrush, driven by Daniel Dube and trained by Ken Rucker, set a Four Leaf Clover stakes record of 1:50³ for the mile, clipping a fifth of a second off of the 1:50⁴ clocking shared by JC’s Suprimo (1995) and St George Island (2003).

Sagebrush, a five-year-old son of Western Hanover, was purchased in January of 2003 for $70,000 by the Rucker Stable of Beecher, Illinois and the Martin Engel of Buffalo Grove, Illinois. He now has a career bankroll of $359,650 with 19 wins, six seconds and eight thirds from 58 starts.

“We were catching our breath to wait for the wire to come,” Rucker said in the winner’s circle. “We were hoping to get lucky and have a $50,000 claimer (when we bought him for $70,000). He doesn’t owe us anything. He’ll get the next three or four weeks off. He deserves the time off.”

“If he (Medoland Big Sam) had gotten the two-hole, he would have had a better chance to beat us because he comes very fast at the end,” Dube acknowledged. “But my horse wouldn’t have let him go by. He keeps going and going and is better at the end of the mile. He was very strong at the wire.”

In the $40,000 open pace, carded as the fifth race, 3-5 Eaton Road Kill ($3.40, $2.60, $2.10) posted his third straight victory and ninth in 10 starts this year with a two and a half length victory over Life Source ($2.60, $2.20). The six-year-old Cambest gelding paced the mile in 1:51 flat. Whosurboy ($2.40) was third by three lengths.

Driven by Daniel Dube and trained by Mark Harder, Eaton Road Kill pushed his 2004 earnings to $114,250 for owner Gregg Pistochini of Auburn, California.